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44 



PEACE! PEACE!!" 



'BUT THERE IS NO PEACE.' 



■ Now the Lord of teace himself give you peace always, by all means."— II. Thkss., I II.; v. IG. 



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PEACE 



" How beautiful upon the mountains, aro the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings 
that publisheth Peace." — Isaiah, I.II., v. 7. 



An article entitled, " Some of tliS- 'Keasons why I am 
Opposed to the Present War," appeared in the Journal of 
Commerce of 1st July, 1861 — ^before a change had taken 
place in the proprietorship of that paper. The article is 
republished now, because it will make a suitable appendix 
to the present paper, and also, because the time has come 
"to take an observation." 

Christmas suggests our subject — " Peace on eartli, and 
good will to men." 

Yes ! we write for Peace — that, for this distracted and 
^vell nigh ruined land 

" No more the thirsty Erymiis of the soil, 

" Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood ; 

"No more shall trenched war channel her fields, 

" Nor bruise her flowers -nith the armed hoof 

" Of hostile paces." 

With Peace, we desire the restoration of the Union, if 
that great blessing can yet be obtained, but we are, at all 
events, for Peace — an early, lionorable Peace. Whatever 



war may accomplish for dissolution and despotism, in 
Peace alone is there any hope for the United States of 
America. 

In this unnatural strife enough blood has been shed, 
enough loss and suffering inflicted, to glut the fiercest dis- 
position. The power that has been exercised ; the money 
that has been squandered ; the preferments that have been 
bestowed, ought to a^^pease the! most voracious appetite. 
But, "there are three things," saith Solomon, "which 
are never satisfied." Had he lived till our day he might 
have added to the number. What will abate the rapacity 
of an army of contractors ; the importunity of an army of 
place hunters ? What will satisfy the intolerance of a 
cruel faction ; the cravings of unscrupulous ambition ? 
Nothing ! We do not propose to address any such 
people. The association would be disagreeable, and the 
labor certainly wasted. We do, with confidence, address 
those who refuse to bow down to Baal, or to worship the 
image that Nebuchadnezzar has set up ; those who " love 
the things that make for Peace ;" who are at heart sick of 
this war; of the wickedness and incompetency it has dis- 
closed ; of the profligacy and crime it has engendered ; of 
the horrors that everywhere follow in its train ; those who 
are unwilling longer to see the country abandoned to the 
ruinous experiments of a wild and reckless party ; those 
who value the rights of an American citizen, who view the 
rapid strides of military despotism with jealousy and ap- 
prehension ; who are unwilling that personal liberty should 
any longer be held- subject to the impertinent tyranny of 
every Jack in otfice, or that the Bastile should supersede 
the Jury box, and the novel pretensions of martial law an- 
nul the law of the land. 



Against the voice of Peace a great outcry will of course be 
raised by those who have a direct pecuniary, political or j3i- 
ous interest in prolonging the war; by those who, for years, 
have labored to bring about the present condition of things; 
by those who are at all times ready to sell our birthright, 
fellow citizens, for their miserable mess of African pottage. 
We will not be disturbed by their clamor, nor denuncia- 
tions, nor threats, nor even by their violence. Calmly and 
freely we will consider the matter, for ourselves, and for 
those who are to come after us. They will bellow out 
" Treason," " Traitor," with all the variations. Those 
terms have been quite honored lately, and an honest man 
may now accept them without reproach, if not without ap- 
prehension. A good while ago, one Doctor Samuel John- 
son sarcastically defined patriotism as " the last refuge of 
a scoundrel." The world changes, but men and morals 
remain substantially the same. Our accusers, having 
monopolized all the patriotism of the land, share it with 
none, except their confederates and tools. 

" But," say they, " treat with rebels! Peace with rebels! 
No terms for rebels, but unconditional submission.^" Yes, 
Treat ! and Peace, and Terms ; ye lifelong rebels against 
God's righteous government, daily dependents on His 
goodness and mercy, by all your hopes of salvation, yes ! 
And ye say the Lord's Prayer doubtless, " Forgive us our 
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," 
and sing, with lifted eyes, 



• That mercy I to others sho 
That mercj- show to me.'' 



and have no fear of judgment, but thank God that ye are 
not as other men. " Upon what meat hath this, our Caesar 
fed, that he hath grown so great ?" Have ye forgotten 



" that your ftitlier was an Amorite, and your mother a 
Hittite ;" that ye are the children of rebels against " the 
best Government that ever existed V 

But " Rebels have no rights." The saying is somewhat 
stale. Vattel's comment on it is : " the language of flat- 
terers and wicked rulers !" We will say no more lest the 
sjiirits of our noble ancestors should be scandalised by the 
discussion. 

" Unconditional submission !" They would not be their 
father's children should they render it ; you would despise 
them if they did ; you well know that such terms are im- 
possible, and therefore you insist upon them. 

The separation of the Colonies from the mother coun- 
try was a forced separation. The treaty of Peace which 
terminated the contest, acknowledged the United States, 
each State by itself, severally named, " to be free, sovereign 
and independent States." The subsequent Union of those 
States, under the 'present Constitution, was voluntary, 
each State, in the final act of ratification, acting by itself 
and for itself A compulsory Union would not have been 
tolerated, could not have been formed. 

The purposes for which that Union was established are 
fully disclosed in the preamble to the Constitution. " We, 
the people of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, 
provide for the common defence, promote the general ivel- 
fare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our 
posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the 
United States of America." 

The preamble, is as much a part of the Constitu- 
tion as any article in it — the Sacramental clause — 



the key to the whole instrument. It declares the ob- 
jects of the Union. Those objects were the induce- 
ments to the contract, without which it would 
never have been entered into. When those inducements 
fail, the contract ceases. 

Let us supjiose that, after a full and fair trial, the Union 
is found not " to establish -justice/' nor '' to insure domes- 
tic tranquility," nor " to provide for the common defence," 
nor " to promote the general welfare," nor " to secure the 
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," nor " to 
form a more perfect union," must it, nevertheless, continue 
to bind the parties — the living to the dead ? Assuredly 
not. Now, all, or nearly all, of this is affirmed by the 
South against the Union. After years of agitation and 
vain attempts to be made secure against the alleged wrongs 
and injuries, believing that her difficulties and dangers in- 
crease continually, and that her relative means of resistance 
continually diminish, she has resorted to extreme measures, 
which all. save a wicked faction, equally deplore, but which 
all are not equally disposed to condemn. 

If the complaints of the South are just and reasonable ; 
if she sincerly believes that redress and protection can be 
obtained in no other way, she has done right — otherwise 
she has done wrong. Good faith, as parties to the contract ; 
the great vested interests of the whole country ; the cause 
of freedom, and the necessities of social order forbid that 
any Government, aad especially this Eepublican Govern- 
ment of ours, should hold its lease of life by the frail 
tenure of caprices; or unreasonable complaints; or petty 
interests; or speculative and fanciful dangers. Is it at all 
probable that such insubstantial motives have governed the 



South, and directed the course she has taken ? We think 
not. 

There always have been and always will be, in every 
country, a class of people whose element is turmoil and 
distraction ; vain, noisy, selfish demagogues, of one idea, 
restless, ambitious and unscrupulous persons, who seek to 
promote discord, strife and revolution, that they may live 
and fatten thereby ; but all such, however important in 
their circle, club or district, are powerless against the basis 
of society, unless the popular will and interest direct the 
blow. Society is no fool. It knows when it is well treated 
and where its advantage lies. There is not an instance 
of a people rising up against a good Government and 
throwing it off, but there are many instances of their 
patience and long sufltering, under every species of bad 
Government. " All experience hath shown, that mankind 
" are more disposed to suffer while evils are suflferable, than 
" to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which 
"they are accustomed." (See Declaration of Independence.) 
Says Alex. Hamilton, in a speech before the New York 
Convention for the ratification of the Constitution : " We 
" have been told that the old Confederation has proved 
" inefficacious, only because intriguing and powerful men 
" have been forever instigating the people, and rendering 
'' them dissatisfied with it. This, sir, is a false insinuation. 
" The thing is impossible. I will venture to assert that no 
"■ combination of designing men under Heaven, will be 
" capable of making a good Government unpopular." 
(Elliot's Deb. v. ii. p 253.) 

To the great mass of the Southern people Secession 
was a disagreeable step, taken reluctantly, with a heavy 
heart, and a continual hoping that something might occur 



which would enable them to retrace their course. Had a 
wise and conciliatory policy been promptly adopted, with 
a proper show of strength and resolution to i)rotect the 
right, every one of the Southern States might have been 
brought peaceably back, and the Union restored to more 
than its former greatness and stability. We chose a dif- 
ferent method, and invoked the spirit of coercion. The 
first peal of an hostile bugle, as it echoed along the hills 
and valleys of Virginia, awoke the United South with a 
shock as inevitable as that which flashed upon the colonies 
when the news ran that Biitish trooj^s had marched on 
Lexington and Concord. The first invasion of Southern 
soil was sealed with blood ; — blood and destruction have 
followed it ever since. Fellow citizens, this is not the land, 
nor is liberty the tree to bear coercion, other than the co- 
ercion of law. 

Against all this we hear no logical answer. The 
grand argument is : " The best Government that ever ex- 
isted." So it is, for us of the North, and always has been. 
We have had Peace in all our borders ; domestic tranquil- 
ity has been insured ; nobody has meddled with our affairs, 
or attempted to dictate to us what we should do or not do; 
we have not been disturbed in our persons and in our pro- 
perty, and the highest blessings of liberty have been ours, 
fully to enjoy, without molestation. With the people of 
the South it has not been so. Tliey have not had Peace 
in all their borders, nor has domestic tranquility been in- 
sured to them. Nor have they enjoyed the highest bles- 
sings of liberty Avithout molestation. These many years 
we have been intermeddling with them — attending to their 
affairs quite as much as we have attended to our own, if 
not a little more. We have given them no rest,day nor night, 



in their i)Ossessions; or their comfort ; or their reputation ; 
or their personal safety. In the proper exercise of undoubt- 
ed right, we have denied, or thwarted and crossed them in 
every possible way. We have vexed them continually 
with harsh, insulting, and abusive language, using the 
vilest epithets, the bitterest denunciations. Had they been 
a race of pirates, robbers, and outlaws — the refuse of the 
earth, we could not have said more against them than we 
have said. By teachings of the pulpit, the lecture room, 
the school, and the fireside, a generation has been taught 
tb hate them. It has learned the lesson well, and, in its 
ignorance, vei'ily believes that Souiherrt Chivalry is but 
another term for lust and cruelty, pride, arrogance and ir- 
religion. Could such a state of things continue forever ? 
It was impossible ! "A house divided against itself can- 
not stand." The South finally concluded that, notwith- 
standing the great advantages of the Union, it was not the 
hest Government for them. 

We are told that " the Government did not do these 
things." A Government of negative virtues only, is but 
half a Government, if so much as that. It will not answer 
to say merely, that Government does no wrong. If it is 
powerless to prevent wrong it is radically defective, A 
Government which fails to secure, to any portion of its peo- 
ple, the enjoyment of their material rights and interests, is 
not a good Government to them, whatever it may be to 
others. 



' What care I, how fair she be. 
If she he not fair tome." 



At this point of the discussion we shall be told that " Sla- 
very is the cause of all the trouble — only do away with tliat, 
and everything will go well." With greater jjropriety might a 



highwayman make the like complaint against my purse ; 
because, he breaks no faith with me, never gave a pledge, 
nor received a compensation; he never enjoyed my hosi)ital- 
ity, nor profited by my labor, nor swore eternal friendship ; 
and finally, because, you impiously, rob, for " Christ's 
sake;" he, very devoutly, for his own. 

Had the people of this country always acknowledged the 
right of a State to secede for cause, as a revolutionary right; 
had they realized the possibility of such an occurrence and 
the consequences of it ; all. North and South, would have 
been under bonds to keep the peace, which would not have 
been broken. There would have been no Secession, no dis- 
solution, no war. 

The idea of sustaining the Union by force, is of modern 
date. We propose briefly to examine it by the olfl lights ; 
by the authority of the Federal Convention, and the opin- 
ions of the leading men of that day, who were prominent 
members of that Convention, and very influential in estab- 
lishing the Government. 

In the Convention, the plan of the Constitution under 
discussion contained a clause authorising the Government 
"to call forth the forces of the Union against any member of 
the Union fiiiling to fulfill its duties under the articles there- 
of" When this clause came up for debate, Mr. Madison ob- 
served, that " the more he reflected on the use of force, the 
"more he doubted the practicability, the justice and the 
" efficacy of it, wlien applied to the people collectively and 
" not individually; a Union of the States containing such an 
" ingredient seemed to provide for its own destruction. 
" The use of force against a State would look more like a 
" declaration of war than an infliction of punishment, and 
" would probably be considered by the party attacked as a 



10 

" dissolution of all compacts by which it might he hound. 
" He had hoped such a system might he framed as might 
" render that recourse unnecessary, and moved that the 
" clause he postponed." The motion was agreed to nem 
con. (See Madison Papers, p 761, [v. ii.]) 

By the same: "Any Government for the United States, 
"founded on the supposed probability of using force 
" against the unconstitutional proceedings of the States, 
'' would prove visionary and fallacious as the government 
" of Congress." (lb, p 822, [v. ii.]) 

Again : " The clause to subdue rebellion in any State, on 
•' the application of its Legislature," was next considered. 

" Mr. Pinckney moved to strike out ' on the application 
"of its Legislature.' Mr. Governeur Morris seconded. 

" Mr. Luther Martin opposed ' as giving a dangerous and 
" unnecessary power. The consent of the States ought to 
"precede the introduction of any extraneous force 
" whatever.' 

" Mr. Mercer supported the proposition of Mr. Martin. 

" Mr. Oliver Ellsworth proposed to add after 'Legisla- 
" ture,' 'or Executive.' 

" Mr, Moms: 'The Executive may possibly be at the head 
" of the Rebellion.' 

"Mr. Ellsworth: 'In many cases the General Govern- 
" ment ought not to be able to interpose, unless called 
" upon. He was willing to vary his motion, so as to 
" read ' or without it when the Legislature cannot meet." 

" Mr. Eldridge Gerry was ' against letting loose the myr- 
" midons of the United States on a State, without its own 
"consent. The States Avill be the best judges in such 
" cases.' 

"Mr. Langdon was 'for striking out, as moved by Mr. 



11 

" Pinckney. The apprehension of the National force will 
" have a salutary etfect in preventing insurrection.' 

" Mr. Edmund Randoljjh: ' If the National Legislature 
"is to he the judge whether the State Legislature can or 
" cannot meet, th.t amendment will make the clause as 
" objectionable as th motion of Mr, Pinckney.' 

" Mr. Morris: 'We are acting a' very strange part. We first 
" form a stioiig man to protect us, and at the same time 
" wish to tie his hands behind him. The Legislature may 
" surely be trusted with such a power to preserve the pub- 
" lie tranquility.' 

" On the motion to add to, 'on the application of its 
" Legislature,' ' or without it when the Legislature cannot 
" meet,' it was agreed to, 5 to 3, 

" Mr. Madison and Mr. Dickenson moved to insert, as 
"explanatory ufte]-, 'State' ' against the Government there- 
" of ;' ' there might be rebellion against the United States.' 
" Agreed to, nera con. 

" On the clause as amended, the vote stood, 4 to 4 — so it 
"was lost. The delegates from Mass. and Pa. were ab- 
" sent. On the printed Journal, Mass. is stated as having 
" voted in the negative. (Madison papers pp. 1349, 50, 51, 
[V. iii.]) 

" Mr. Dickenson moved to strike out ' on the application 
"of the Legislature, against,' He thought it of essen- 
" tial importance to the tranquility of the United Slates, 
" that they should, in all cases, suppress domestic violence 
" which may proceed from the Legislature itself, or from 
" dis})Utes between the two branches, when such exist.' On 
" the question, ayes 3, nays 8. 

" Mr. Dickenson moved to insert the words 'or Executive' 



12 

" after the words, ' application of its Legislature.' Ayes 8, 
"nays 2, (lb. pp. 1466, 67, 68.) 

" On the question on the clause as amended — ayes 9, 
" nays 2." 

The clause as adopted is as follows : " The United 
" States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Re- 
" publican form of Government, and shall protect each of 
" them against invasion, and, on application of the Legis- 
" latuix, or of the Executive, (when the Legislature cannot 
"be convened) against domestic vioJeiice." (See Con. U.S. 
Art. iv. Sec. 4.) 

The Constitution, as adopted, was sent to the several 
States for ratification. The States called their several Con- 
ventions. In those Conventions the instrument was tho- 
roughly discussed and criticised, previous to its adoption. 

In the Convention of New York, Mr. Lansing, a mem- 
ber: "I know not if History furnishes an example of a Con- 
" federated Republic coercing the States composing it, by 
" the mild influence of Law, operating on the individuals 
" of those States. It, is, therefore, I suppose, to be 
" a new experiment in politics." (Elliot's Deb. v. ii., p. 221.) 

Mr. Alexander Hamilton, a member, and a delegate to 
the Federal Convention : "It has been observed, to coerce 
" the States, is one of the maddest j)rojects that was ever 
" devised. A failure of ct)mpliance will never be confined 
" to a single State. This being the case, can we suppose 
" it wise to hazard a civil war ? What a picture does this 
" present to our view. A complying State at war with a 
" non-complying State. Congress marching the troops of 
" one State into the bosom of another. This State collect- 
" ing auxilliaries, and forming, perhaps, a majority against 
" the Federal head. Here is a nation at war with itself. 



13 



" Can any man be well disposed towards a Government 
" whicli makes war and carnage the only means of sup- 
" porting itself ; a Government that can exist only by the 
" sword ? Every such war must involve the innocent with 
" the guilty. This single consideration should be sufficient 
" to dispose every peaceable citizen against such a Govern- 
" ment. But can ive believe that one State ivill suffer it- 
" self to be used as an instrument of coercion ? The thing 
" is a dream. It is impossible !" (lb. v. ii., p. 232.) 

In the Convention of Connecticut, Mr. Oliver Ellsworth, 
a member and a delegate to the Federal Convention: '' Thus 
" we see, how necessary for the Union is a coercive force. 
" The only question is : Shall it be a coercion of Law, or 
" a coercion of arms ? There is no other possible alterna- 
" tive. Where will those who oppose a coercion of Law 
" come out ? Where will they end ? A necessary conse- 
"quence of this is, a war of the States, one against th'e 
" other. I am for coercion by Law ; that coercion which 
" acts only upon the delinquent individuals. This Consti- 
" tution does not attempt to coerce sovereign bodies. States, 
" in their political capacity. No coercion is applicable to 
" such bodies but that of an armed force. If we should 
" attempt to execute the Laws of the United States by 
-' sending an armed force against a delinquent State, it 
" would involve the good and the bad, the innocent and the 
"guilty, in one common calamity." (lb. v. ii. p. 199.) 

In the Convention of North Carolina, Mr. Davies, a mem- 
ber, and a delegate to the Federal Convention, " For my 
" own part, I know of but two ways in which the LaAvs can 
"be executed by any Government. If there be any other, 
" it is unknown to me. The first mode is, coercion by 
" military force ; and the second is, coercion through the 



14 

" Judiciary. With respect to a coercion by force, I shall 
" suppose that it is so rejiugnant to the principles of justice 
" and the feelings of a free people, that no man will sup- 
" port it. It must, in the end, terminate in the destruc- 
" tion of the liberty of the people. I take it, therefore, 
" that there is no rational way of enforcing the Laws but 
"by the instrumentality of the Judiciary. 

" If the Laws are not to be carried into execution by the 
" interposition of the Judiciary, how is it to be done ? I 
" have already observed, that the mind of every honest 
" man, who has any feeling for the happiness of his coun- 
"tr}^, must have the highest repugnance to the idea of mil- 
" itary coercion." (lb. v. iv, pp 164-5.) 

The great defect of the Federal Constitution was, that 
it provided no means for enforcing obedience to the Gen- 
eral Government. The only remedy was military force, em- 
ployed against a State, which was civil war and dissolution. 
The difficulty was obviated in the present Constitution, 
by making the Judiciary the coercive force, bearing on in- 
dividuals. This remedy ignores the use of military force, 
except in certain cases, and under certain limitations, and 
only then, as an auxilliary power, in the nature of a posse 
comitatus, to aid the Judicial officer in the performance 
of his duty. (For this, see the Federalist, beginning 
with No. XV.) 

Whatever may be said of these authorities, they certain- 
ly dispose of the assertion, that those "who established our 
Government failed to provide against the present crisis, 
because they could not have forseen it. 

The Union, unbroken, lasted for *Wenty years and 
upwards. Under it we prospered greatly. With no other 
nation has it ever been as with this nation. For the ra- 



15 

pidity of its growth, in territorial extent and popular num- 
bers; in riches and power; in the diffusion of knowledge; the 
developement of intelligence ; the cultivation of the 
sciences and the polite arts ; it has excited the admiration 
or the jealousy of the civilized world. 

Fearless of foreign invasion, confident of our resources, 
we have thought ourselves secure. Now and then dark 
clouds have lifted above our own horizon, but they 
seemed to vanish away. Harsh mutterings of domestic 
discord would be heard, but the sound was too remote 
and too faint to portend a storm, or oui- slumbers 
too deep to heed the admonition. We indulged bright 
visions of jjerpetual union, of prosperity without a serious 
check,'and defied consequences. Consequences, are avenged; 
our visions have been rudely dispelled ; the storm has 
come upon us ; the temple of our worship totters to its 
base, and the whole land is under the deepest excitement 
of anger, apprehension and distress 

' To re-establish the Union, and retrieve our fortunes, we 
have resorted to war — civil war ; the direst calamity which 
can befall any nation. 

Kecently, at a public meeting, one who profanely styles 
himself a Divine, invoked this war as "a ivar to the knife, 
and the knife to the hilt." It was a sentiment fit for the 
shambles. "And David said unto Gad . Let us fall now 
into the hands of the Lord, for His mercies are great; and 
let me not fall into the hand of man." 

This war has now raged, with great fierceness, for more 
than eighteen months. The nation has engaged in it with 
characteristic energy and resolution. There has seemed 
no limit to the range of violence and destruction. The 
armed and the unarmed, the strong and the weak, the in- 



16 

nocent and tlio guilty, have been alike involved ; and 
much have we done, and are now doing, which is not war, 
but vandalism — as if to destroy, and not to restore, was 
the national purpose. To a very considerable degree we 
appear to have abandoned the established usages of civil- 
ized warfare, and to have adopted the maxims and practi- 
ces of Barbarians, who '' considered a state of war as a 
"dissolution of all moral ties, and a license for every kind 
"of disorder, and intemperate fierceness. An enemy was 
"regarded as a criminal and an outlaw, who had forfeited 
"his rights, and whose life, liberty and property lay at the 
"mercy of the conquerors. Everything done against an 
"enemy was held to be lawful. He might be destroyed, 
"though unarmed and defenceless. Fraud might be em- 
"ployed, as well as force, and force without any regard to 
"the means. 

"But these barbarous rights of war hav<3 been ques- 
"tioned and checked in the progress of civilization Pub- 
"lic opinion, as it becomes enlightened and refined, con- 
"demns all cruelty, and all wanton destruction of life and 
"property as equally useless and injurious ; and it controls 
"the violence and severity of war, by the energy and se- 
"verity of its reproaches." (1 Kent's Com., sec. v., p. 90, 
et supr.) 

In this war evei-y material advantage has been for us, 
and against our adversaries. 

Their land is wasted by our armies ; hordes of lawless 
and ill-disciplined volunteers have been let loose upon 
them ; permitted to lay waste, with fire and sword, and 
to perpetrate every species of brutality on the unprotected 
and helpless. Desperate battles have been fought, almost 
daily, some of which were to have been decisive of the war. 



17 

Blood runs like water. New-made graves are thickly scat- 
tered, in clusters like villages, and the land is full of sick, 
wounded and mutilated men. 

We have blockaded their ports, and greatly straitened 
them, not only in the arms and munitions of war, but in 
the necessaries of life and health. We have laid waste their 
coast ; ravaged and depoi)ulated their plantations ; bom- 
barded and destroyed their exposed towns and villages; 
occupied and despoiled the most defenceless and inviting 
portions of their country. We have captured their chief 
city and ruled it with worse than Oriental despotism. We 
have armed the negroes, and set them like blood-hounds, 
on the track of their masters. Failing to drive their armies 
from the field, we boldly assault their unguarded homes, 
and in tlie performance of a two-ft)ld duty, benevolence and 
revenge, seek to bring upon their woman and children, the 
infant and the man of gray hairs, all the realities of a San 
Domingo massacre. We have pronounced sentences of out- 
lawry and confiscation against them, which threaten utter 
ruin to the whole people, without regard to age, sex, or 
condition, degrees of innocence or guilt ; or the claims of 
survivorship and inheritance. For severity and in- 
justice, for the magnitude of the interests against which 
they are intended to operate, these measures are without 
a paralell in the history of any civilized nation — aye, they 
are without a paralell in the history of the world. When- 
ever and wherever it was convenient, these sentences 
have been enforced ; in many cases, prospectively — in all, 
without legal process, in the name of military authority. 

All of these things are contrary to the usages of war; to 
the sentiments of the christian world; to sound justice and 
humanity, and to the Constitution of the United States, 



18 



which declares that " No man shall be held to answer for 
" a capital or other infamous crime, unless on a present- 
" ment or indictment of a Grand Jury, nor shall be deprived 
" of life, liberty, or property, without due process of Law ;" 
and that '"'no attainter of treason shall work forfeiture ex- 
" cept during the life of the person attainted." 

These things we have done, and more, much more, which 
will never be disclosed till the graves give up their dead, 
and men are called to answer the deeds done in the body. 

And for what ? To restore the Union ? Well, have we 
restored it ? Are we any nearer that consumation now 
than when the war began ? Are we as near ? No ! no ! 
no ! Such questions mock us ; laugh at our folly, and 
deride our expectations. 

'' I could weep for my country when I say that I fear 
" the Union has lost forever its cohesive power. That 
•' power lay not so much in its arts or arms ; not in what 
"the Union could produce or defend, but in a kind of mu- 
" tual recognition of the equality and brotherhood of the 
" great American fxmily, ' one and indivisible.' All that 
''is gone. For twenty years Northern 2)ul2Hts and 
" Northern schools have been teaching hatred to the South. 
" That hatred is deep, and, I think, irradicable ; most as- 
" suredly, war is not likely to remove the evil. We have 
" had wars which have helped to knit us together ; but a 
" civil war, such as we have on hand now, necessarily 
" uproots everything. I should be glad to believe other- 
" wise, but I cannot." (Extract from a letter of Hon. 
Thos, H. Seymour, of Conn, to Hon. Nahum Capen of 
Mass., July 26, 1862.) 

How stand the people of the South aifected by our re- 
medial process of coercion ? Do they love the Union any 



19 

bettor ? Are they any the less united among themselves ? 
Do they exhibit any signs of yielding, or discouragement, 
or irresolution ? Is there any abatement of their zeal, 
energy and courage ? Far from it. They but the more 
intensely abhor and loathe the Union, in whose name im- 
measurable violence and sufferings have been inflicted on 
them. Never were they more united, more determined, or 
more sanguine. They never manifested greater zeal, ener- 
gy and devotion. Never were they inspired by loftier 
courage. And besides, they are aided by a spirit which 
cannot, in the nature of things, animate us ; they fight for 
their lives and for their homes, and for all that makes life 
and home precious. 

Are these our hopes of a restoration ? '' Do men gath- 
" er grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles ?" 

In the letter of Hon. Robert Dale Owen, to the Hon. Sal- 
mon P. Chase, published in a recent number of the Eve- 
ning Post, occurs the following passage : 

" Never since the world began, did nine millions of peo- 
" pie band together, resolutely inspired by the one idea of 
" achieving their independence, yet fail to obtain it. It is 
" not a century since one-third of the number successfully 
" defied Great Britain." •••■ 

Says Mr. Everett in his letter to the Chairman of the 
Committee of Arrangements for the Peace Meeting to be 



* We wouUl uot misrepresent so amiable a person as Mr. Owen, and therefore feel 
bound to state that the extract quoted, does not form part of an argument m favor of 
peace, but part of an argument in favor of a " more vigorous prosecution of the war," by 
means of ser\-ile insurrection. 

Thus, after more than eighteen months of terribU^ fighting and when it is supposed 
that the nation is inextricably committed to the war, the plot is fully disclosed by one of 
the apostles of the party, and we are told that this little affair of " ninety days 
must fail unless we can manage to inaugurate a Dahomey Carnival, with but a slight 
■ tference in the complosion of the victims. 



20 

held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, Feb. 1861. (Dated Wash- 
ington, 2d Feb., 1861.) 

" To expect to hold fifteen States in the Union by force, 
" is preposterous. The idea of a Civil War, accompanied, 
"as it would be, by a servile insurrection, is too monstrous 
" to be entertained for a moment. If our sister States 
"must leave us, in the name of Heaven let them go in 
" Peace." - 

There is a fable, of a certain contest between Sol and 
Boreas, for the [lossession of the traveler's cloak. As we 
remember the story : — the harder and fiercer the north 
wind blew, the tighter the traveler clasped his cloak ; but 
when the wind ceased, and the Sun came out, his wai'm rays 
caused the old man to relax his hold, and, by degrees, 
put aside a garment which was becoming burthensome and 
oppresive. The fable has a moral for the times, if we 
would learn it. 

There is a large class to whom such sentiments are far 
from palatable. Those busy patriots of last year's growth, 
whose immaculate traditions, intolerant zeal and sanguin- 
ary projects leave no quest-ion as to the quality of their 
conversion, see nothing but Treason in mild counsels. 
Their bark is Union, but their scent is blood, and they fol- 
low it with the swiftness and tenacity of instinct. Their cry 
is " Submission or extermination ; havoc and death ; burn 
their cities and strew the ruins with salt ; lay waste by fam- 
ine, fire and sword ; let loose every horrible shape which 
violence can assume ; if necessary, sweep every living thing 
into the Grulf of Mexico ; till not a vestige of the peoj)le or 



* We make no comment on the remarkable inconsistency between the passages quotort 
a nd later efforts of the same writer, but leave the gentleman to his own conscience, and 
the charitable opinions of the reader. 



21 

their posessions remain." Well might Madam Roland ex- 
claim : " liberty ! what horrors are committed in thy 
name ! " Charity obliges us to believe that those who rave 
in this manner, do it ignorantly. The ideas are mon- 
strous ! Thank God, the crime is impossible ! What ? 
Exterminate more than eight millions of free jieople, of the 
Anglo-Saxon and Gallic races- — possessing a territory of 
more than a million and a half square miles in extent ; a 
vast region, every way defencible by nature and art ? No! 
We can neither exterminate, nor, by force, coerce them ! 
But, suppose extermination possible ; that we attempt it ; 
foreign powers remain passive spectators of the tragedy : 
after years of bitter and exhausting strife theyea^ is accom- 
plished ; the last armed rebel has sealed his devotion with 
his life ; the weak and defenceless, hunted, scattered like 
sheep before wolves, perish by the way or are driven into 
perpetual exile : the garden of America has become a 
waste of mingled blood and ashes, and resistance has 
ceased ; the Union has triumphed ; the victors have re- 
turned laden with spoil ? What then ? Will not the 
spoil be as the spoil of Achan — an accursed thing ? Will 
the triumidi bring renown, esteem, and a return of peace- 
ful, prosperous, happy days ? Will it lestore the Union 
with its precious gifts ? Never ! never ', 'Twere a mis- 
chievous delusion to believe it. The desolation Ave have in- 
flicted, as an avenging spirit, will follow us ; the voice of our 
brother's blood will cry out against us from the ground ; a 
guilty conscience will reproach us ; the keen anguish of 
remorse will smite us ; a hissing, and a reproach, and a by- 
word shall we become to the nations. When these evils 
come upon us, then shall we begin to realize the fortune 



22" 

we have blasted ; the ruin we have madly invoked ; the 
warnings we have contemptuously slighted. Then will 

" the sense of lost happiness 
And lasting- pain torment and overwhelm us ;" 

reproach and recrimination, wrath and jealousy, suspicion 
and dislike will arise, instead of Peace. 

Strange elements these, of Union between Sovereign 
States, whose changer! relations to the whole and to each 
other, cause their contlicting interests to grow daily more 
importunate. 

The old Union, with its superior benefits, half destroyed 
and blotted out, where is the cohesive force, to bind in 
one, the jarring fragments ? Shall we find it in an immense 
public debt ? and which of the States will pay it ? Those 
who allege a failure of the conditions on wdiich it was in- 
curred ? Those who have realized the benefits, or those 
who have suffered the loss ? Shall we find it in national 
pride ? — that is humbled to the dust — or strength and 
greatness ? They have passed away ; little remains of 
them, but the violence of the whirlwind, more dangerous to 
ourselves than to others. In our Liberties ? Already they 
have fled the Capital. In superior national benefits ? 
what are they ? name them. In a wronged, deluded, 
over-taxed and distressed peojile ? The allusion may well 
excite our apprehensions, rather than our hopes. In for- 
eign dangers ? They are remote and speculative. Who will 
heed them in the turmoil of conflicting passions ? Shall 
we find it in the desolated South ? Unless human nature has 
greatly changed, history and experience greatly mistaken, 
those coveted possessions will prove the source of discord, 
jealousy and contention. In any or all of these things do 



23 

we find the full assurance of Hope for our Country ? Alas ! 
no ! rather the deepest despair. 

In contemplating such a future, how dismal is the view, — 
confusion and chaos — society at war with itselt^ — the sword 
of the smiter turned against his own breast. At such a 
spectacle, the Genius of Liberty hides her face, and, in 
grief, departs. The great Republic of America falls for 
ever, destroyed by the insane fury of her own children, 
who know not how to deserve or enjoy the blessings she 
lavished upon them. 

The thunder of that fall will shake the Nations. The 
windows of the prison-house will be darkened ; oppression 
will rejoice ; Liberty and human progress will mourn for 
generations. 

Not for all the honors, or the wealth this land can be- 
stow, would we have on our hearts the guilt of such great 
ruin. 

We have presented a sad, humiliating picture. When 
all the colors are dark and gloomy, we know^ not how 
to paint otherwise. It may be called the painting of a 
wild imagination ; is it a whit more extravagant than what 
has already occurred ? — than the events now passing before 
us? 

Our hope for the Country ; for the Union ; for Repub- 
lican Government ; for Liberty ; is, in Peace, an early 
Peace. Each day the war is prolonged, makes wider and 
deeper the gap between the sections, adds to our demoral- 
ization, increases the burthen which threatens to bear us 
down. 

Those there are, who in pomjious and well rounded 
periods, protest to you that " the composition of such a 



24 



controversy is impossible." Cold-blooded suggestion, and 
attrocious ; it sounds as an utterance from the dark regions 

— " Where peace 
•' And rest cau never dwell, hope never comes, 
"That comes to all," 

and has no fellowship with any thing that is good. It is 
not true that the " Composition" of such a controversy is 
impossible. It is possible, with honor and advantage — 
without sacrifice of right or justice. The civilized world 
implores it, humanity and religion demand it, and say, 
"Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the 
Children of Heaven." 

LINDLEY SPKING. 



SOME REASONS WHY I AM OPPOSED TO THE 
PRESENT WAR. 

First., Because war is, at best, a terrible necessity, not to be 
resorted to until ;ill amicable means of settling national difficulties 
have been exhausted. 

It is well known that ever since the election of Mr. Lincoln, 
the Republican party has resisted every practical suggestion in 
favor of peace that has been offered. 

Toward the close of the last session of Congress, when a final 
effort was made in the Senate on behalf of the Crittenden resolu- 
tions, the motion was defeated, one of the Senators, I think his 
name is Hale, saying, " We have more important business on hand 
— we have a Tariff to pass." 

Second^ Because it is a civil war, of all wars the most cruel 
and exhausting, and the most repugnant to the sentiments of the 
present age. 

Thirds Because, if s-uccossful, it must be over the ruins of the 
Republic. We, shall have a government, but it will not be the 
government of the United States. 

It is an abuse of terms to speak of a Union on compulsion, " a 
union of equals," consisting of conquerors and conquered ; be- 
sides, a government asserted by force must be maintained by force ; 
and the power necessary to hold in subjection one-half of the 
coimtry, is a standing menace to the liberties of the remainder. 

Fovrih, Because it cannot succeed. Eight millions of free 
people, inhabiting such a country as they possess, accustomed to 
the use of arms, lighting, as they verily believe, for their lives, 
and for all that makes life precious, cannot be conquered. 

Fifths Because we enter upon it without the moral support of 



26 

the great Christian nations of the earth ; and in prosecuting it 
are very likely to embroil ourselves with them. 

Sixth^ Because war will not settle our difficulties ; it will only 
aggravate them. We shall have to negotiate sooner or later, and 
had better do so at the threshold of a bitter war than at its close. 

Seventh, Because of the spirit of lawlessness and ferocity it is 
creating. The hand on the dial seems to have gone three centu- 
ries backward since this war commenced. 

Eighth, Because of the conditions on which it is waged; sub- 
mission or extermination. 

Ninth, Because it will promote the unfriendly designs of our 
great foreign rival in trade and power. 

Tenth, Because it will prove ruinous to the city of New- York, 
and highly injurious to the country at large. It will load the 
country with a heavy national debt ; withdraw the strength of 
our population fi-om the pursuits of peaceful industry to a life of 
high excitements and irregularities ; drive our commerce from the 
seas, or send it skulking under convoy ; the healthful channels of 
enterprise and profit will be choked up"; the capital of the coun- 
try will be hoarded or absorbed by the government for warlike 
uses; consumers and idlers will be multiplied ; producers will be 
diminished ; property will depreciate in value ; the hard-earned 
credit and wealth of years will vanish away ; there will be a gene- 
ral bankruptcy ; all classes will suffer ; and the poor and vicious 
will be greatly increased. Such are some of the followers in the 
train of this war. How greatly will these evils be multiplied 
and aggravated, in case the ivar should fail of its object. 

Eleventh, Because of its tendency to demoralize the govern- 
ment, and make it one stupendous jobbing concern for the benefit 
of contractors and their confederates. 

Twelfth, Because the Declaration of Independence asserts the 
right of a people '' to dissolve the political bonds which have 
connected thcin with another, and to assume among the powers of 



27 
• 
the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of 

nature and of nature's God entitled them." " That Governments 
are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the con- 
sent of the governed, that whenever any form of government he- 
comes destructive of the ends for which it was instituted, it is the 
right of the people to alter and abolish it, and to institute a new 
government, laying its foundation in such principles, and organiz- 
ing its powers in such form as shall seem most likely to effect their 
safety and happiness." 

When New-York ratified the Constitution, she expressly re-af- 
firmed those principles, and further said, " That the powers of the 
Government may be re-assumed by the people whenever it shall 
become necessai-y for their happiness;" the ratifications of Rhode 
Island and of Virginia are to the same effect. These express con- 
ditions apply to all of the States, for all are equal. 

Thirteeiith, Because this government was founded on voluntary 
consent ; to assume that it must be maintained b3' fx)rce, is to 
admit that it is a failure. 

Fourteenth, Because, in waging it, we, as a people, stultify our- 
selves in all our pretensions to the right and capacity of self- 
government. We vindicate the pretensions of Great Britain in 
her attempts to coerce the Colonies, and maintain her government. 
We make our forefathers traitors, and the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence the round robin of a nest of conspirators against law, 
order and government. 

It makes a world of difference whether we run with the hare, 
or hunt with the hounds. 

Fifteenth, Because it is no\ as some suppose, a war to sustain 
our government, but a war to compel other States, our equals, to 
continue members of a government they do not choose to have. 

Sixteenth, Because it is a war for supremacy, and not for the 
Constitution ; a war of desperation, and not of hope. 

Thousands in the land believed that when Mr. Lincoln was 



28 



elected, the Union was lost. Subsequent events confirmed those 
apprehensions; but only of late has the heavy truth struck home. 
We begin to realize the loss. Our commercial position, if not our 
very existence, threatened by protection at the North, and free 
trade at the South, our national pretensions humbled, ovir visions 
of unbounded gi-eatuess rudely dispelled, our prosperity turned 
to adversity; on all sides baffled and perplexed, we yield to our 
passions, fly to arms, and seek those desperate courses, " which, 
if not victory, are yet revenge," 

Seventeenih^ Because it is inexpedient; and, excuse me for say- 
ing it, unnatural. Instead of making the best of our misfortunes, 
we are making the worst of them. Wisdom, true patriotism, 
high conduct, the ref-ptctable opinion of mankind, religion, all 
tell us: "Let these people go." Protest, if you please, (saying 
nothing of your own share in the business), in terms of rhetoric 
the most dignified and touching, against the course they have 
taken, and the ruin they have accomplished; but let them go; 
your fathers fought the battles of the Revolution shoulder to 
shoulder with their fathers; the ashes of your dead mingle in 
the soil of every State, from Maine to California; your sons have 
taken of their daughters to wife; ye are brethren; ye have been 
baptized with the same baptism — have wept at the same graves. 

" And Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, 
between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herds- 
men, for we be brethren: Is not the whole land before thee? 
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the 
left hand, then I will go to the right; or, if thou depart to the 
right hand, then I will go to the left." 

Are not these imperative considoratious? Let us submit to 
them gracefully, and put aside the arms of fratricidal strife. It 
was Moloch, that bloody deity, who 

" rather than bo less, 
Cared not to be at all." 

The sentiment was worthy of the soil. True courage s] 



20 



different lauguag-e. Let us take counsel of sound policy and de- 
liberate judgment, and turn from the ra-sli conclusion of fanaticism 
and resentment ; let us be friends, serviceable neighbors, if we 
cannot be fellow-citizens. If the Union is to be saved, it is not 
to be saved by force. Tf the Union be lost, it is nevertheless in 
our power to become close allies, and to stand before the world as 
one people, a mighty nation. 

Let the most sanguinary mind, the liveliest imagination, en- 
deavor to pierce the future of a contrary course, and it will vainly 
strive to fathom an abyss unfathomable, of woe and desolation 
which no pen can describe. 

Eighteenth. I oppose this war because it is a war of sections; 
the North against the South, the stronger against the weaker, 
the majority in arms to compel, the minority in arms to resist. 
In this connection it ceases to be a question of slavery, pro or con.; 
or any other question save this ; the right of States satisfied with 
the Union to compel dissatisfied States to abide by the Union, 
nolens volens. As I am convinced that a solution of this question 
by a resort to force was not in the bargain, and know that a sug- 
gestion .to that effect was pi'omptly rejected by the framers of the 
Constitution, I am obliged to oppose this war. 

Nineteenth, I oppose this war, because there is no law author- 
izing it. These armies operating in the field ; this great increase 
to the standing force of our national defence ; this extensive sea 
coast and river blockade; the invasion of States, the suspension 
of the writ of Hab 'as Corpus ; the seizure and confiscation of pri- 
vate property by military force ; citizens taken by soldiery and 
put under martial arrest for trial, for speaking treason ; the pro- 
vost marshal superseding the sheriff; and the drum head taking 
the place of the jury box ; these and many other acts of like char- 
acter, done by the President, or under his authority, are wholly 
without warrant in law. George Washington was for some time 
Dictator, because Congress made him such. This case is without 
a precedent, but it makes one. When arbitrary power can be 



30 



so readily assumed, all the liberties of the people are in danger. 
The plea of necessity draw's the sword on our adversary to-day ; 
the like plea may turn it on ourselves to-morrow. 

Twentieth, I oppose this war because it is a war of the Aboli- 
tionists and of the Republican party. 

By the strongest appeals to our patriotism the national senti- 
ment has been thoroughly roused ; the whole North is in arms, 
and eager for battle to sustain the government. Who does not 
know that all this excitement and preparation is for the especial 
benefit of a certain portion of the community ; in short, of those 
very people who after years of toil and preparation have succeeded 
in bringing their pleasant tragedy before the public, and who, 
safe behind the scenes, now chuckle over the felicitous develop- 
ment of the plot, and the wonderful success of the piece ? Yes ! 
the impending crisis, — the irrepressible conflict, — the long-expect- 
ed day, has at length come, " Blow ye the trumpet, blow, and 
proclaim liberty throughout the land." 

Those quandom champions of free speech and a free press, sud- 
denly converted into blazing patriots, glow with pious heat against 
all freedom save their own. Those who diflfer with them are trai- 
tors ; to oppose them is treason. In the name of the Union they 
have betrayed, of the Constitution they have disregarded, and of 
the laws they have insolently defied, those model citizens now 
demand of us, and of all men, to march for them to their tune of 
the Union, and wage their war of extermination. 

I will yield to no nigjj in my love for the Union. Heretofore, 
with my humble pen, is the best of my ability, I have endeavored 
to serve it. I am not now to be driven from well considered 
opinions, by the claniore or the threats of those very people who 
have done so much to overthrow our government and dishonor our 
flag. If ten thousand lives could give peace to this distracted 
land, and restore our glorious old Union, cheap indeed would be 
the purchase, and happy, thrice happy, those patriots on whom the 



31 

lot .should fall. However much or little I may presume to share 
in these sentiments, I make bold to say, that I will not, under any 
pretence, aid or countenance the abominable projects of those, who 
having hunted the Union to death, now hound us i-n to her bloody 
obsequies, and,- our general ruin. 

New York, May 11, 1861. 



W60 



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